The Improvement Of Her Mind

"...by extensive reading." Tradition has it that we do this thing around this time of year. We look back on the books we read in the past twelve months, and feel very good about ourselves. At least, I do. The list usually ends up being longer than I had hoped and it always makes one feel cultured to see a piece of paper with The Weight of Glory and Psmith, Journalist chivvying for mention. So without further commentary, my list:

Tramp For The Lord by Corrie Ten Boom

The Weight of Glory by C.S. Lewis

The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey

The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (reread)

Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

The Innocence of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Notes From The Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson

Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse

Unnatural Death by Dorothy Sayers

Mr. Popper's Penguins by the Atwaters (reread)

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib by Maud Hart Lovelace (reread)

Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (rearead)

Stuart Little (by “Whatshisface” is what I had written on my list) (reread)

True Men And Traitors by David W. Doyle

Schindler's List by Thomas Kenealy

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson

Cocktail Time by P.G. Wodehouse

Summer Lightning by P.G. Wodehouse

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Always Pack a Party Dress by Amanda Brooks

Dearie: The Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

How To Get Dressed by Alison Freer

My list rounds out with The Whimsical Christian by Dorothy Sayers, which I will finish shortly after the new year. I love how, with my governess-ing job picking up this year, I got to include re-reads of some of my childhood favorites with the girls! I hope to include a lot more this coming year. I am also happy with the balance of ten non-fiction titles out of twenty-four. That's nearly a fifty-percent non-fiction ratio, which is the highest I think it has ever been, and the strength of my brain feels it. Hurray for challenges accepted and completed! I can't wait to see what titles will make it onto my list for 2016! And now I want to know: what was your favorite book read this year? For me, I would choose Always Pack A Party Dress, which was basically The Devil Wears Prada incarnate. Just a fascinating read for anyone interested in the wide, intricate world of designer fashion.

Challeng'd my Bookshelf

Those who hang around The Inkpen Authoress long enough realize that I almost never participate in tags. I do, however, make exceptions for tags that actually interest me and that contain questions I have an interest in answering. Also, if the tags come from a reputable source, I am more inclined to give them credence as more than just another chain letter. ;) My old-faithful, Elisabeth Foley of The Second Sentence, tagged me in this thing she calls "The Bookshelf Challenge". This tag is quite nontraditional, containing absolutely no mentions of coffee or tea or any of those questions one comes to dread in interviews. Therefore, I participate:

Is there a book you really want to read but haven't, because you know that it'll make you cry? I am going to use my Get Out of Jail card and say that The Book Thief by Markus Zusack is one such book. I am halfway through, but making exceptionally slow progress. Death as a narrator is brilliant but heavy, and since I have seen the movie and know to what certain death we are careening, it puts a bit of damper on my headlong fling toward the final pages.
Pick one book that helped introduce you to a new genre: For this, I would have to say Sarah Sundin's With Every Letter. I had never read a Christian historical romance, having a creeping suspicion that they were all fluffery and stupid characters, but when I won Sundin's novel in a giveaway, I was taken in by the gentle, steady way the author weaves her story into the real facts of WWII.
Find a book you want to reread: Easy. Plenilune, by Jennifer Freitag. Cannot wait to have a copy of this baby in my library (October 20th, October 20th, October 20th). Also, the Hawk & Dove books by Penelope Wilcock.
Is there a book series you read but wish that you hadn't? Abram's Daughters by Beverly Lewis. I got got three-quarters of the way through and gave it up as a bad job.
If your house was burning down and all your family and pets were safe, which book would you go back inside to save? My Wodehouses and A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken. Also, Winnie-the-Pooh.
Is there one book on your bookshelf that brings back fond memories? Doesn't every book? But to answer this, I should probably say The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. There are many others, but I will never forget the sensation of not knowing anything at all about it and delighting over the first read.
Find a book that has inspired you the most. A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
Do you have any autographed books? Actually, yes. I won the first two books in Sarah Sundin's Wings of the Nightingale series in two separate giveaways and both happened to be autographed copies! Also, I have quite a few from indie authors.
Find the book that you have owned the longest. Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne. I believe Mama gave me this book when I was five and I remember wanting to be able to say with Christopher Robin, "Now we are six!"
Is there a book by an author that you never thought you'd read or enjoy? Hmmm. Well, I had quite a prejudice against The Wind in the Willows for some time. Quite unfounded. And when I finally read it at the age of twenty-one, I realized I had been missing out on charm for years. On the other hand, perhaps I enjoyed it all the more because I was grown up and could understand the watercolored nuances. :)

Since Elisabeth tagged three authors, I will do the same. I tag Jennifer Freitag, Mirriam Neal, and Katelyn Sabelko.

I'm Not The Same After...

"In my life there are so many questions and answers that somehow seem wrong. In my life, there are times when I catch in the silence the sigh of a faraway song."
-Les Miserables

On Facebook, I was challenged by several people (I always forget whom) to post a list of ten books that have changed me in some fashion. Generally, I leave such tags alone because who really wants to hear the list? But after being tagged at least twice, perhaps three times, it was beginning to look like Ignoring. So I bent to the will of the people and formulated my list. Unfortunately, ten is much too brief an amount to allow for all the books I might have added. Thus, this list is not exhaustive. Also, it might be a point of interest for some of you to realize that some of these books are not necessarily ultimate favorites, but have made it into the top ten for reasons of how much they have affected me. The books that do count as favorite, must-read titles are highlighted in blue.

1.) A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
2.) The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
3.) The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Grahame
4.) Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
5.) Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
6.) Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
7.) The Help by Kathryn Stockett
8.) Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
9.) Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
10.) Henry V by William Shakespeare

A Severe Mercy: I first read this book at the prompting of my mother, who had long told me bits and pieces of trivia about this book. Together, my parents read the book in their first year of marriage, and I think it was a good choice. You will never read about a couple more sincere or a love more true. This book, perhaps more than any other, has caught and changed my concept of the bond between two souls.
  The Silver Chair: I think Lewis' reputation stands for itself, but on the outside chance that you're a stranger to the tales of Narnia, I think that you will like this book. I like it because it is more than half fairy-tale and more than half true...if you know what I mean. Also, you don't have to have terribly much prior acquaintance with the characters to enjoy the book, though a good friendship would enhance the experience for you. I think I like it best because of how it makes me ache with hearing "that sigh of a faraway song".
The Wind in The Willows: As I've mentioned before, I am a late-comer to this party. For some odd reason, I boycotted it until the age of twenty-one when I read the book and it caught me across the throat with its beauty. I don't know what it is...the charm of the prose, the idea of mucking about in boats, or the feeling of home-yness about it, but it is pure verbal comfort. Read it.
Winnie-the-Pooh: I don't have to tell you about this one. You know how much I love it and what my mission in life (regarding it) has been.
Orthodoxy: Feeling things keenly but not being the best at common-sensical arguments, I adore books that argue my case with finesse and humor. Chesterton is king at this. There is barely a page on which I didn't underline a quote that struck me. Fine stuff here.
Unbroken: You will never in your life read another book that makes you feel this brave and inspired. The true account of an Olympian-turned-WWII-soldier will erase every concept of what you thought determination and grit were. I am so excited to see the film directed by Angelina Jolie (???) which is set to release on Christmas Day. It'll be hard to watch, but it will be worth it. Louis Zamperini was a hero of heroes.
The Help: A One-liner Description: You will never feel proud of your debut novel again. Honestly, I don't know how Kathryn Stockett did it. This book is gold. I would not be able to believe that it was her debut novel except for the fact that Harper Lee had done it before with her To Kill a Mockingbird. The plot stuck with me because it is similar in setting to stories I have heard from my mother about their help, Laura Bullock, and how she took care of my mother and her siblings while my grandmother worked during the day. Excellent story, execution, and writing.
Steal Like An Artist: I think I'll always remember this little book as the one I cram-read in half an hour while hoping my brother (who owned the book) wouldn't say he needed to leave before I'd finished. If you're looking to be inspired in your art, challenged, and uplifted, this is the book for you. It's like an IV of espresso to the sagging inspiration.
Anne of Green Gables: It's weird to think what sort of person I would be today if I had never read this book. I am being perfectly honest when I tell you that I was greatly affected by the character of Anne Shirley. Avonlea comprised much of my childhood, from setting the stones for my great love (and somewhat expertise of) the Victorian era, to cementing my long-held woe that I was not born a ginger, to the fact that I deeply appreciate the beauty of nature, to introducing me to some grand poetry and much literature. It and I are inextricably combined.
Henry V: Another book for when I want to be brave, all I have to do is read Henry's speech at Agincourt, his St. Crispin's Day admonishment, or the proposal scene and I'm suddenly a lioness. Shakespeare is (TRUISMS) a genius.

What are your favorite books? And yes, I'm smiling evilly because I know you guys can't resist. I do so love starting fads.

Book Review: Plenilune by Jennifer Freitag

"The fate of Plenilune hangs on the election of the Overlord, for which Rupert de la Mare and his brother are the only contenders, but when Rupert’s unwilling bride-to-be uncovers his plot to murder his brother, the conflict explodes into civil war.
To assure the minds of the lord-electors of Plenilune that he has some capacity for humanity, Rupert de la Mare has been asked to woo and win a lady before he can become the Overlord, and he will do it—even if he has to kidnap her."

-Goodreads Description

In giving Plenilune five stars, I hope I am not doing Jennifer Freitag a disservice; I am a reader quite easy to please and I give far more 5-star reviews than some reviewers. I go into a story willing to be pleased, wooed, won by the author. But now, waiting for Plenilune's orb to come crashing into the literary atmosphere, I wish I could retrieve some of those stars from some lesser books because to give a book five stars is to give it my all and that I wish to do now.

For several years I have read Jennifer Freitag's blog, The Penslayer, and enjoyed "snippets" of her writing. I read her first novel, The Shadow Things, and while I enjoyed it, I knew that her writing had grown since its birth and was anxious to read it in its modernity. Plenilune, I imagined, was something a bit more mature than the smaller, tentative Shadow Things.
A friendship gradually sprang up betwixt Jenny and myself but still I had not thought to get to read her "opus" before publication until one day (probably overwhelmed with pregnancy hormones and the pressures of life) Jenny caved and sent me Plenilune en masse. I did not ravage it in a sitting; Plenilune is not one of those novels that calls for such behavior. Indeed, try to swallow it whole and you'll be marked a glutton with no fine taste. It ought to be read, savoured, gentled into one's comprehension because if you try to swallow a moon at one go, you'll certainly feel it a surfeit.

Perhaps the thing that impressed me most in Freitag's novel was the fact that her writing as a whole--the characters, arcs, themes, sensations--stood scrutiny as boldly as one beautiful line in a post of snippets. She can conduct small magic in a line, pyrotechnics in a novel.

I left Plenilune feeling nobler. I can't explain it any other way than that Freitag managed to reach into a fierce, crimson, hidden part of me and call forth a banner-blaze not soon to be extinguished. You will hear readers say that Freitag's work is "like Tolkien" or "like Lewis" and I daresay they mean it well. But it's not. Freitag's writing is like Freitag. That's quite enough for Jenny; that's quite enough for me. I look forward to buying my own copy of Plenilune and prowling upon her doorstep for the next installment in the Plenilunar world.

(Five of five stars. Because of the realistic dealings with characters both good and evil, I heartily recommend Plenilune for ages sixteen and older.)

Books like Chocolate Cake

Pleasure reading.
How many times do we let ourselves read books that really have no bearing on what we are researching, or what we are assigned or what we think we ought to read. How many times do we let ourselves dwell in the literary version of a piece of chocolate cake: a thing in which we partake because it is familiar and good and conjures up the best memories? Well I think we ought to indulge more frequently in the good old favorites. Oscar Wilde said it first:

"If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all."

 So today I'm featuring a list of my favorite comfortable, chocolate-cake-y books. I wonder what your lists look like, and if we share some of the same favorites?

The James Herriot series is one that I always forget about until I slip back into the gentle cadence of the stories and feel how soft and worn they are, like a favorite pair of jeans. I always wonder how I ever left the world of the Yorkshire Dales and the real-life experiences of this beloved veterinarian.

An Old-Fashioned Girl is one of those books cursed with an unfortunately boring name. This book quickly became one of my favorites ever with its witty, improbably romances and gentle but clever heroine. The story is now so well-known to me that I have favorite chapters, and I have found a friend on the road before me in Polly Milton. Don't let the prudish name scare you: this story is probably my favorite book by Louisa May Alcott...though Eight Cousins follows close behind.

I have talked about The Railway Children before, but I don't know that anyone believes me when I say that it's one of the best kids' books ever. I just love E. Nesbit's way of spinning a story of three children in a grown ups' world. Hilarious, poignant, and never grows old. Read it.

Anything Wodehouse makes this list. Again, if you will only take my word for it, there will never be a need for ibuprofen when you have a headache again. Just crack the spine of one of these awesome stories and your cares will soon be gone the way of Aunt Agatha. Hilarious, light-hearted and always worth it, Wodehouse is the panacea for the world's woes.

Similar to the James Herriot books, Jan Karon's Mitford series is also a homely, precious set of books that don't require much brain-power. I don't mean to suggest that you can't relax with a book that does require brain-power. I'm only stating the facts. I like some of the novels better than others, but through the whole series you will find an awesome cast of hilarious, touching, fabulous characters. I think by the end of the series, Jan Karon had invented over seven-hundred characters. Ay yup, Jenny, she's giving you a run for your money!

You know those books that you read so many times as a kid that you can still remember the topography of the pages and where you were while reading them, and even now can still point to definite things inside you that were affected by that book? Anne of Green Gables is this for me. I don't care if it sounds typical. I really don't. I know you'd expect this title to show up on a list of favorite books. But maybe we're just chronological snobs. There is nothing wrong with Anne of Green Gables that should make me exclude it. Maybe it's on so many lists because it is just that good and deserves to be a classic. I love this story and its people and I plan to love it forever an' ever, amen.

This is a book that a friend told me I would enjoy. I was a little skeptical because it didn't sound that interesting and I don't usually like books about orphans. But when I was at the homeschool conference, I found a copy and decided I would try my luck. By the end of the first reading, it had thoroughly endeared itself to me. I don't know what it is about this book that is so wonderful and comfortable...it just is. I don't know what else Jean Webster has written, but she gave the cozy world a gift with Daddy Long-Legs. 

Winnie-The-Pooh. Oh come on. You knew it was going to happen. I think every swinging one of you knows exactly how I feel about A.A. Milne. Just...read this. Please. Think how much money some people spend on Prozac and counselors when what they could be doing is reading about Pooh-Bear and Tigger and Christopher Robin and finding themselves so much less stressed.

Well. These are the first books I thought of. I know there are other old favorites that would also fit this list, but these are the ones that stepped forward and volunteered as tribute. Also, you may have noticed that the majority of these titles are kids books. OH WELL. I happen to like well-written children's literature just as much as I like regular literature so LET us not quibble. Here's to one more day of my North Carolina "vacation". The sun finally came out and heralded spring, and life here is pretty much beautiful. Also, I randomly (not so randomly, actually) bought a hard-cover volume of the letters of P.G. Wodehouse. I am so excited! Book splurge. I never do it.

Watercress Goes With the Ears

I feel a wee bit foolish for thinking I was the only one who had read A.A. Milne's Once on a Time. No I don't; I feel foolish for not having heard of it. Or maybe I feel privileged. It isn't often you are able to accidentally save a precious fairy tale in complete freshness till the time you are twenty-one. I feel there is a moral in that, if you like morals. I knew I was going to like the darling when I searched Amazon for random titles by A.A. Milne, hoping against hope he'd have written something readable besides Winnie-the-Pooh, poetry, and The Red House Mystery. There was Once on a Time. A fairytale...why then, it was bound to be nonsensical!

I am such an easy win for nonsense. Wanting to walk circumspectly in the art of spending rare book money, I clicked "read first few pages" and came to the introduction:

"For whom, then, is the book intended? That is the trouble. Unless I can say, 'For those, young or old, who like the things which I like,' I find it difficult to answer. Is it a children's book? Well, what do we mean by that? Is The Wind in the Willows a children's book? Is Alice in Wonderland? Is Treasure Island? These are masterpieces which we read with pleasure as children, but with how much more pleasure when we are grown-up...I confess that I cannot grapple with these difficult problems. But I am very sure of this: that no one can write a book which children will like, unless he writes it for himself first...but as you can see, I am still finding it difficult to explain just what sort of book it is. Perhaps no explanation is necessary. Read in it what you like; read it to whomever you like; it can only fall into one of the two classes. Either you will enjoy it, or you won't. It is that sort of book."

Milne was such a peach when introducing himself; I've never met a better man for the job. He sold me on Once on a Time just by that passage. I ordered the book, received it, and gobbled it. If you're looking for a fresh, hilarious, sweet fairy-tale not so many people have read, your looking days are probably done. In fact, when I finished it last night, there were so many lovely bits I didn't want to forget, I did a proper bit of Sharpie Therapy to remember them by:

This is not one. This is pretty typography.

You really should read it.

In other news, Fly Away Home debuts in just two days!!! Very soon you shall be able to buy a copy, or maybe even gift one to a person you love. But the point of this post was this: "Please read Once on a Time."

That's all. And if it interests anyone, I share a birthday with Wiggs's Very Good Day. ^.^ (and the title of this post reflects the title of a chapter in the book.

Who needs the bare necessities?

Our camping trip was a darned wash-out. That isn't to say we didn't stay out camping; we did. We are a hearty race, we Heffingtons, and take a Post Office-ian view of our scraped-together vacation time: "neither snow nor hail nor wind nor rain shall keep us from our rounds." So we dripped and moisted and generally made slippery nuisances of ourselves. In the worst parts of the day we ferried across to Williamsburg and inhabited the outlet stores and shops. Funny, because I didn't have any money to spend so I was strictly window-shopping.
The second day I got to spend quite some time hovering in the College of William & Mary's B&N bookstore. That was a lovely thing. I came in at a brisk trot from dodging rain and was quite wet but once inside, the store was just the thing to minister to a mind diseased by overmuch standing out in the elements. I made myself laugh with various P.G. Wodehouse novels in the aisle. I hunted up Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. I picked up a biography of Audrey Hepburn which I very much wanted to have money to buy, and Mama thunked a huge tome of The Letters of P.G. Wodehouse into my hands. Darn her mushrooms, it was $35.00. When I actually have an income, my expenditure will be equally divided between Books and Starbucks. Who needs food, shelter, and clothing? I ask you! Benjamin found a volume of the entire script from Downton Abbey S 1. This would be devastating for our family as we are all fair hands at British accents and love to act. You'd never see us outside of that tome did it ever set leaf in our house. In addition to all these finds, I found the most curious book: excerpts and photos of drawings from the travel journals of the rich & famous. Such a converstaion-piece; wish I'd had funds to buy that too. I perused the youth section and made up my mind to buy one something for a certain comrade's gift come Christmastime as well as deciding I want a copy of The Hobbit with the pretty green/blue/black symmetrical cover. You know the one. I also decided that I haven't read enough Lois Lowry, so we'll have to remedy that soon.

As far as what I've been actually reading (versus yearning over in the bookstore), that runs rather scapegrace:
The Sacrifice by Beverly Lewis (not too keen on Amish romances but I promised the sister-in-law-ish.)
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayers (almost done)
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Dorothy Sayers (good fun. I never suspected the culprit but then...I never do.)
Ella Enchanted (I keep finding kid-novels I somehow neglected to read and therefore one of my favorite treats is to bundle myself off with a thoughtless read like that and pretend I'm eleven again.)

Autumn is reluctant in coming temperature-wise but I fixed that by wearing dark-wash jeans, a golden-rode colored shirt and a deep blue cardigan. Take that, thermometer. Well, my cinnamon scones are calling and I've got to make a latte to accompany them. Cheers and all that.

Let's Choose Ignorance, M'kay?

This year, I have read more books than I have in the past three years (individually). I sit here trying to think what the difference is. My schedule has been far crazier than in previous years (I have been out of town for a collective 7 weeks), I am juggling several blogs, working more with Dad, I launched The Warren, and I'm teaching two different classes. So if my schedule hasn't changed for the easier, how is it that I'm racking up book after book on my Have Read list?

Quite simple: I shifted priorities.

People who say they "do not have time to read" don't mean that. We all have time to read. We all have time to do lots of things. There isn't a single man on earth who has more than 24 hours allotted to him. So when you say "I don't have time" what you really mean is, "I'm not making it a priority." Don't argue on this. Maybe you feel that you don't have time because you aren't the one in charge of your priorities. (i.e. your parents have you taking dance, theatre, and soccer twice a week, or you're in college and your professors have claimed every ounce of brain-matter in your body) But in these cases, we ought to say what we mean: "There are other things higher on the priorities list."

I used to say that about reading. There were other things higher on the priorities list: things like blogging so that I could keep connecting with readers and other writers; things like writing so I could legitimately keep up a writing blog. But after last year when I only remedied a scary, paltry book list by cramming in the last two or three months, I realized that the quality of my writing is directly related to the quantity of my reading. To state the case in perfect frankness: when I'm not reading, my writing suffers. It's that old problem of wearing out your brain in one channel; overusing your mind so that the activity wears a sore furrow in one place. Soon you'll find you're left with no inspiration, little wit, and small willingness or interest in moving along.

And I'm not talking about books that are related to writing or have something to do with the subject you are writing about. I'm talking about reading for reading's sake. I went to the library and picked up The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir, which is a deep look at Richard III's (alleged) murder of his nephews and how they figure it is probably true. I'm not writing (or planning to write) a book about the Wars of the Roses; it was simply an interesting book that I wanted to read. And I enjoyed it in its fullness and returned it on time to the library. (*smirk*) I remember Jenny saying something a long while ago about making time to read, even if it was one chapter before bed; I agree entirely. Bring a book into the kitchen while you make dinner. Bring one in the car on the way to your dance lessons or theatre practice. Read instead of planning another blog post or checking Facebook once more, or scouring Pinterest for that perfect face for one of your characters. None of you want to surrender yourselves to self-chosen ignorance. Imagine 'fessing up to that one: "I'd rather play Wii than read because my mind needs a break." Okay, so maybe you could use to be "brisked round and brisked about" but reading is a break for your mind because it uses a different part of your brain than writing does. Most often when we complain that our brains are tired, what we mean in actuality is that we've worn a sore furrow in that one corridor and it's complaining loudly.

Click out of your Word document. Close down the Facebook app or the Pinterest page. Shut the laptop completely (and who the heck wants a Kindle?) and take up one of your castaways. Crack the spine and crunch up a receipt for a bookmark, and remember the good old days when you "had time". Believe me, it's worth it.

It reads the better which is our own

"A book reads the better, which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins." -Charles Lamb

(and incidentally one of my favorite book-love quotes)

        If a book is your own, certainly you are in the position of caretaker. Do you keep your books like well-kept children: always scrubbed and shining with covers unsmudged? Or do you take the Mrs. Arliss approach to your book-keeping and lay they haphazardly on the tabletops or forget about them on the porch till the afternoon gale has had a peep in the pages? Or do you take a somewhat middle road with a comfortable wear to your collection that still retains a semblance of pride in the fact that you have begun a personal library. Speaking for myself, I have swung from one side of the pendulum to the other. I have mentioned before that touch is a big thing for me, and I have always loved the crackle of a page that has got damp from some spillage and then dried again; perhaps with the ink a bit blurry and spoiled but still legible. The same question applies to writing in books...I have gone through stages in my life where I was a non-scribbler and then a pro-scribbler, underlining and scoring dozens of lines and pages that really didn't mean much of anything to me, just because I wanted my books and Bible to look well-used. Have you ever read anything more pathetic than that? I'm sure I haven't, but at ten or eleven, that was my mind-set.

       Once I realized the idiocy of such a habit, I ceased entirely. But over the last several years as I have started reading things that really mattered, and as the Lord has brought certain verses to me that I had never thought of in that certain way, I've become a scribbler-in again. Last year I was privileged to meet the book I have mentioned before: Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy. I cannot stress how much each of you needs to read this. I read some books and I like them, but then I read some books and the thoughts from those books stay with me through the day as the book sits on the shelf, and then through the weeks and months after I have finished and have put the book away. I wish I had written in A Severe Mercy when I first read it, underlining all the lines and passages that were precious to me. Instead when I thought I could rely on Goodreads to have all those quotes, I was in error. Goodreads has, apparently, heard little of Vanauken's killer book, and I was afloat in a sea of half-remembrances. That being said, yesterday I took out the battered, 80's copy of this book and dove back in with my ball-point pen in hand. So far it is just as amazing as I recalled and I have recklessly dived in, underscoring all the best lines and writing in the margins.

       Some people complain about finding books written in, but I think it is a beautiful thing. I like nothing better than to open an old book in a store and find not one but three or even four names written on the inside of the cover, the ink fading in varying degrees to show the age of each inscription. I like to turn my mind to vaguely imagining what those people were like, and if they enjoyed the book, and if it effected their lives or if it was a thing they never finished and all but forgot they had started.

      If I find notes written among the pages, I am often unsatisfied till I've read them all and "gotten to know" the person who had once held the same volume. After all, reading is a relatively private affair (at least it is for me) and some of my most tender, young, and wise thoughts come to me as I read. When I'm in the clutches of a good story--a really good story--there is no one in the world but myself and those characters...for once all the restraints of society and Other People are broken and my brain runs wild. If others are like me, isn't there a good chance that the notes pencilled on the edges of the page are heart-thoughts of the previous reader? I have read stories that claim such a thing. I once even read a story (I can't recall if it was fiction...probably) where a man found someone's misplaced book and started reading it, and fell in love with the woman who had written the notes in the margins because her handwriting and her notations showed such a deep and tender soul. Of course that is a sentimental story, and perhaps writing in my books is sentimental as well. But I say, if college students can score and underline their textbooks, shouldn't Lewis and Chesterton and Bronte and Austen and all the rest deserve an equal chance to be tattered and loved? I think so.

       But everyone in the world must have their opinion, and I suppose you will be aching to speak your own so here's your opportunity: What do you have to say on the subject of Scribbling Or Not? Leave a comment and let's continue the discussion; I'd love to hear your ideas.

A Taste of Anne-spelled-with-an-E

Miss Dashwood is having an Anne of Green Gables week over at her blog, and as Anne and I are almost twins, I thought I'd better join in the fun! :)

                                                                

                                                               *   *   *   *   *

 

1. How many of the Anne books have you read, and how many of the films have you seen?

I've read all eight of the Anne books and both of the movies...somehow I can't find it in myself to count that third one as part of the Anne-series...they ought to have just gone ahead with all the Ingleside bunch and made movies about them. :)
 
2. If someone yanked your hair and called you carrots, what would you do to him?


Let me think about this. First off, I would probably laugh--I mean, seriously, why call a brunette "carrots"? I would laugh, but I know I'd be embarrassed that he'd humiliated me in that way in front of a lot of people...I don't think I'd break my slate over his head, but you never know. My wit would probably eventually come to my rescue and I'd say something scathing to him that would redeem the moment in my favor. ;)

3. What would you do if Josie Pye dared you to walk the ridgepole of a roof?

You know...I'd probably try. I'd not get past the first few shingles, I daresay, but I would try. I'm not particularly scared of heights, you know.

4. If you had the opportunity to play any AGG (I'm abbreviating from now on because I am a lazy typist) character in an AGG play, which role would you choose?

Ooh! Well, I suppose physical characteristics must be thought about and I would not fit the part of Anne, though I'd love to play her. Let's see...I think it'd be fun to play either Mrs. Lynde, or (if I could choose from some of the other Anne books) one of the girls in Patty's Place...I've always loved the notion of that sweet little four-some living in that house and going off to college. :) I might choose Phillipa Gordon, though I'm not as pretty as she.

5. If you were marooned on a desert island, which AGG character would you want to have as a companion? (Anne, Gilbert and Diana are not options.  Let's keep this thing interesting.  Not that they're not interesting.... oh, yay, now the disclaimer to this question is longer than the question itself.  Lovely lovely lovely.)

Haha! Davy Keith. He'd know what to do, and even if he didn't, he'd keep me laughing and probably invent some way to get us out of our predicament.

6. If there was going to be a new adaptation of the Anne books and you could have any part in making the movie, what would you choose to do? (screenwriting, acting, casting, costume-making are a few possibilities)

Casting and costume-making...also set-finder-person-who-travels-all-over-and-sees-gorgeous-places. :)

7. What are, in your opinion, the funniest AGG book/movie scenes? (choose one from the books and one from the movies)

Funniest book scene? Oy vay. Um...I've always loved the part when Anne is talking to Mr. Harris and finding herself contradicted at every point. Also when she and Diana are soliciting for their A.V.I.S. society and Anne gets stuck half-way through the roof of the duck-house and has to stay there. She starts scribbling down a story while waiting for help--I love it! It sounds like something I might do in a desperate moment. :D

 

In the movies? I do love her argument with Mrs. Lynde over Dolly. Also the scene where she and Diana hop onto Miss Josephine Barry in the bed, and where she and Diana are walking through the Haunted Wood and faint. :D

8. What are, in your opinion, the saddest AGG book/movie scenes? (choose one of each again) 

In the movie, the scene where Anne realizes she loves Gilbert and he is in mortal danger...the might-have-been in that scene is so sad!

In the book, I would have to say when the Ingleside bunch finds out that Walter was killed in the war...or else when Anne's baby dies. :(

9. Which AGG character would you most like to spend an afternoon with? (again, Anne and Gilbert and Diana are not options for this one--think secondary characters)

Phillipa Gordon--she and I would get along brilliantly, I think. :)

10.  What is your definition of a kindred spirit?

A kindred spirit is the person you can just look at and know they are a friend. There is something electric in their manner that captivates you. I have a blood-hound's nose for finding kindred spirits. When you meet a person you will know they are a kindred spirit by the way they laugh or talk or stand...I can't describe it, but it's there. If you doubt this definition, you have not heard the story of one of my dearest friends and I. I saw her at a mutual friend's graduation. She fascinated me but I was too shy to meet her. We never exchanged a single word. I went home and wrote about the graduation in my journal and mentioned her as a girl who I knew I would love and I said I wished I'd summoned my courage and introduced myself. Over a year later we began emailing (through a series of events) and finally officially met at the same friend's barn-dance. We have been inseparable ever since. :) It was my greatest success! ;)

And so it begins!!! :)

Please take this button and put it on your sidebar! :)

Tomorrow starts the kick-off of the "'Heigh-ho' For a Husband" Blog Party & Contest here at The Inkpen Authoress! I have much much much planned for this event, and I can't wait to share it all with you! All I will say is that there is a stinkin' fabulous giveaway sponsored by the beautiful Michelle Mach Etsy shop, and you will absolutely adore it. There will be post about Valentine's Day-themed things, writing romance [or not], excerpts from books, interviews, and more, during the next three weeks! I have a post scheduled for nearly every day, and I hope you'll enjoy this party as much as I plan to! :)

So this is a reminder that tomorrow (or more properly, at 12:00 a.m.) you may begin sending your entries to theinkpenauthoress@gmail.com. Contest Details are below :)

This contest will be a contest of Fiction. You may write a dialog, a poem, or a short story (no more than 4,000 words, please). The theme is Un-Valentined Humor. :) Witty, funny, humorous entries about this plight. You may write about two girls discussing their single state, a romantic comedy where no one ends up married, a parody on a famous romantic poem, etc. The idea is to showcase the themes of Valentine's day from an "un-coupled" person's prospective! :) Have fun with it! (And no, you don't have to be single to enter.)

This"Heigh-Ho for a Husband" Blog Party and Contest will open Wednesday, January 23, 2012, and end on February 14th, 2011.
The rules are as follows:

• Each entrant may submit one entry for each category: Poetry, Dialog, or Story. Email all submissions to theinkpenauthoress@gmail.com
• The entries will be judged in their category.  I'll choose one winner from each category, and their entries will be featured on this blog. 
• Then the winners from those three entries will compete for the Grand Prize Winner. I will be announcing the prize at a later date. :)

 Tally-ho, everyone! I can't wait to see what you come up with! Please spread the word about this "'Heigh-Ho for a Husband" blog party so that we can get as many people participating as possible! :)
                                        With Great Expectations,
                                                            Rachel

The Lost Art of Reading Aloud

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

— Emilie Buchwald 

"You may have tangible wealth untold.

 Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. 

Richer than I you can never be – 

I had a mother who read to me."

— Strickland Gillilan

I owe much of my love of reading and writing to my mother. For as long as I can remember she has read aloud to us. I can distinctly remember my first encounter with Anne of Green Gables. I complained that there was too much description, and I couldn't understand it. Yet Mama persisted in reading the book aloud to us and before long I was lost to the world in the fairy-fancies concocted by Anne Shirley in that tantalizing land of Avonlea.
Mama never stooped to reading easy books to us, and I don't think she ever skipped the hard words. She wisely surmised that we would soon learn, somehow, what the big words meant, and in the meantime they didn't matter. It was of little consequence that if we didn't understand every little detail--the beauty of the words would rub off on us anyway. That is not to say that Mama didn't have secret misgivings--she has often admitted that when she read Hans Brinker to us, she really thought it was far over our heads. Funny thing is, that is the one book I remember thrilling me to my fingertips. We turned it into a unit-study (Ah! The beauty of homeschooling!) and learned all about the queer Dutch houses on their stilts and the bustling canals instead of crowded streets. Some of my fondest, coziest memories come from snuggling up on the couch, and oh! To get that coveted spot right next to Mama where we could lean against her soft side and follow along in the book as we learned to read.
I fear reading aloud is a lost art, and yet what a pleasant pastime! It is one of those forgotten pleasures, like letter-writing, that we would do well to revive. It brings a group of people together, their thoughts, dreams, and emotions wrapped round the same story. Is there anything sweeter than experiencing a story again with a dear friend? I well know the glorious sensation of discussing a book with one of my sweet sisters in Christ, reliving the intricacies of the plot, the characters, what we thought was going to happen and what in actuality did....*happy, happy, nostalgic sigh*

I have fond dreams of someday, in my house o' dreams, reading aloud to my husband some chilly fall night when we haven't any troubles to pressure us and nothing to do but please ourselves. ;) I do hope he'll enjoy being read aloud to.

"When Mother reads aloud, the past
Seems real as every day;
I hear the tramp of armies vast,
I see the spears and lances cast,
I join the thrilling fray;
Brave knights and ladies fair and proud
I meet when Mother reads aloud."
~"When Mother Reads Aloud" Author Unknown 

I also cannot wait for the day I can gather my little chickens around me and open a book to transport them to new worlds; to vicariously experience the wondrous delight of those dear, beloved stories for the first time through my children.
But there is an art to it. The reader-aloud who halts and mispronounces words and reads in a monotone so fast it sounds like Chinese is not pleasant to listen to. If you would have interested listeners, you must be an interesting reader. Go ahead and liberate your fancy. Use accents. Choose a different voice for each character and maintain it. Read the descriptions with a soft, flowing voice and try to put the beauty of the words into your tones. Practice on your siblings! I recall reading The Hobbit aloud to my younger sisters--they loved it, after they got past their string of perpetual questions. The famous mother/sister answer I've found to be appropriate to all occasions is: "Well if you listen you might find the answer out!" :D
Here is a list of my favorite books to be read aloud as a child. Oh, thank you Mama for reading to us! :)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Little Princess by " " " 
Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johanne Wyss
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Hinds Feet on the High Places by Hannah Hunard
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes